dizzied. Along the left side, only small gatherings of trees and bushes but no gates. And along the right, the same stark stones shadowed in patches by the foliage. No gates, no anything. As if some elaborate prankster had broken down the ironwork and filled in the vast opening with cement and stone.
No. Kallia reached out to the wall. The stone was paved and cold to the touch. If anyone had messed with the wall, she would’ve felt the signs. Still she searched, until she began to pound and scratch and kick at the surface until her knuckles and legs throbbed with panic.
The gates were gone.
As if Glorian had swallowed them up the moment she turned her back.
As if they never existed in the first place.
Her cheeks burned, sweat trickling down her hairline when she finally surrendered. Her arms quivered from the effort, her pain sharpening as the adrenaline wore off. The chill bit at her as she stared at the wall, breathless. Unblinking.
An illusion.
It had to be.
Hooves sounded in the distance, growing nearer. Her pulse kicked up as she stole into the shadows, wiping her face and soothing her raw knuckles. No one could see her like this, startled as a bird. Hallucinating.
Two horses approached the end of the road. The riders atop them stopped short a few paces away with deepening frowns. In the barest flicker of lamplight, Kallia detected two magicians, faint in the darkness. Robere and Eduar.
“What the—” Robere circled his horse around before he dismounted altogether. “This is the road, isn’t it?”
“I thought so…” Eduar joined him at the base of the wall, pounding at the exterior right where Kallia had moments ago. “It’s not here.”
“Impossible,” his companion snarled before he whirled around, searching in the dark. “You think this is funny? Who the hell is out there?”
Kallia pressed against the trunk of a tree, willing herself invisible even as she barely had the power for it. Not that she needed to. Their rage preoccupied them, giving her the proper cover to slip away as they returned to beating, cursing, and throwing their powers against the wall, willing it to break open.
25
Kallia needed a drink.
It was her sole reigning thought as she staggered through the servants’ entrance of the Prima and back to her room. Her vision was already swimming in circles, but as she made it through the door, her limbs followed suit. She stumbled to her knees, waiting out the wave of dizziness. Nothing made sense.
I didn’t throw you in a cage.
Everything felt numb.
You walked right inside and turned the lock.
Jack was supposed to be wrong. Everything he said was supposed to be lies.
It took all her will to hold back a sob when hands took her gently by the elbows and lifted her. She was lowered into the soft cushion of the sofa, wearing a bleary smile at the relief. Her shoes came off. Fingers pushed back her hair, traced along her temple. Her sigh drew coarsely up her throat. It burned like the rest of her, and she almost wept at the filled glass in front of her.
Water.
She downed it so fast, her insides hurt. Her body screamed for more. “Something stronger. Please.”
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?”
Kallia shook awake, finding Jack standing over her with his hands braced by her head. The nearness of him so dizzying, she thought she might be dreaming.
But he was there. His presence, his closeness, the furthest thing from a dream.
She shoved him off of her with a desperate glance at the windows. Their long gossamer curtains hung lifelessly, catching the moonlight outside and softening with a pearly glow. No movement or wind rustled their hems.
“Locked glass and closed curtains are nothing to me. You know that.” Jack stepped back, smoothing out a wrinkle along his sleeve before grabbing the glass of water on the table. “Here, have some more.” When she wouldn’t take it, he sighed and snapped his fingers. “Happy?”
A dark, burgundy liquid now occupied the glass. The ease of the trick unsettled her; she could barely conjure a flame in her state. How much power would it take to banish him like last time? To banish him for good, if it were possible?
“Don’t bother tiring yourself out, firecrown,” he said, knowing her too well. “I’m not going anywhere.”
Everything hurt more with him there. To see him see her like this, no longer strong and powerful. Nothing like the magician he’d known in the House.